City Council considers ideas to reduce speeding on Fifth Avenue

Published: Friday, December 14, 2012 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, December 13, 2012 at 6:51 p.m.

Speeding on Fifth Avenue from Blythe Street to North Justice Street has been an issue for years, Hendersonville officials said, but a little paint or lane shifting may be the solution.

City Engineer Brent Detwiler said the avenue, on average, is traversed by 2,400 cars traveling eastbound and 1,300 traveling westbound each day, according to counts taken different weeks by Public Works.

City engineers presented three options for calming the traffic to City Council last week:

--Do nothing – the cheapest option with the least effect.

--Remove “No Parking” signs along the avenue between Justice and Blythe streets, narrowing the lanes with on-street parking; and/or painting the intersections with street markings that extend from the curbs, creating the illusion of narrower lanes.

--Meander street – Shift the lanes along Fifth Avenue, like the city did years ago with Main Street, creating a meandering affect that would allow for parallel parking on alternating sides of the street. Detwiler told the council that this option would be the most expensive and would require public input through outreach meetings and additional engineering design.

Once this option is in place, he said, an additional police presence would be needed until the public learns the new travel pattern.

Detwiler said that allowing on-street parking “would make the lanes seem smaller and slow traffic down,” but getting people to park where they have not been allowed to park may take some time.

“It would probably take years to get people to park out on the street,” said Jeff Collis, mayor pro-tem.

The change in driver behavior and getting drivers to actually slow down with option 2, Detwiler said, would depend on people parking along Fifth Avenue.

“Just one car parked along the road may not slow them down,” he added.

On-street parking, however, could reduce the sight distance for drivers and pedestrians, he said.

It could cost the city $15,000 to create on-street parking and stripe intersections, but to shift the lanes with alternate parallel parking could cost twice as much, Detwiler told the council.

<p>Speeding on Fifth Avenue from Blythe Street to North Justice Street has been an issue for years, Hendersonville officials said, but a little paint or lane shifting may be the solution. </p><p>City Engineer Brent Detwiler said the avenue, on average, is traversed by 2,400 cars traveling eastbound and 1,300 traveling westbound each day, according to counts taken different weeks by Public Works. </p><p>City engineers presented three options for calming the traffic to City Council last week:</p><p>--Do nothing – the cheapest option with the least effect.</p><p>--Remove “No Parking” signs along the avenue between Justice and Blythe streets, narrowing the lanes with on-street parking; and/or painting the intersections with street markings that extend from the curbs, creating the illusion of narrower lanes. </p><p>--Meander street – Shift the lanes along Fifth Avenue, like the city did years ago with Main Street, creating a meandering affect that would allow for parallel parking on alternating sides of the street. Detwiler told the council that this option would be the most expensive and would require public input through outreach meetings and additional engineering design.</p><p>Once this option is in place, he said, an additional police presence would be needed until the public learns the new travel pattern.</p><p>Detwiler said that allowing on-street parking “would make the lanes seem smaller and slow traffic down,” but getting people to park where they have not been allowed to park may take some time.</p><p>“It would probably take years to get people to park out on the street,” said Jeff Collis, mayor pro-tem.</p><p>The change in driver behavior and getting drivers to actually slow down with option 2, Detwiler said, would depend on people parking along Fifth Avenue. </p><p>“Just one car parked along the road may not slow them down,” he added.</p><p>On-street parking, however, could reduce the sight distance for drivers and pedestrians, he said.</p><p>It could cost the city $15,000 to create on-street parking and stripe intersections, but to shift the lanes with alternate parallel parking could cost twice as much, Detwiler told the council.</p><p>Reach Weaver at emily.weaver@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7867.</p>